This was one of the first books I read when I began investigating Christianity in college. Lloyd-Jones exposition of Jesus’ most famous sermon gave me an entirely new perspective on what it means to be a Christian and made me wonder if I’d ever met one. More importantly, this book convinced me that I didn’t understand Christianity and what it means to live the Christian life. And I wondered (and wonder) how different the church would be if every believer could read Lloyd-Jones’ book.

Though he was writing about 400 years ago in France, Pascal seems to understand us better than almost any of our modern writers. If you have a skeptical friend wondering how Christianity could be true or how thoughtful people could embrace such a strange message, this would be one of the best books you could give him or her. It’s written in deceptively simple short fragments — tweets, if you will.

The best defense of what the cross means that is accessible to diligent readers. It’s theologically rich but not dry; learned but not overly academic. If you read one “theology” book (and you have already read the Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer) then embrace the challenge of reading Stott’s masterpiece. The most important book of the one of the 20th century’s most important Christian authors.